The present disclosure relates to image forming apparatuses such as copy machines, printers, facsimile apparatuses, and multifunction peripherals having the entirety or some of functions of the apparatuses and machines, and image carrier moving apparatuses for use in the image forming apparatuses.
An image forming apparatus forms a toner image on an image carrier, and transfers the toner image to a transfer medium such as a paper sheet, and thereafter removes residual toner on the image carrier to perform cleaning. Cleaning blades structured so as to be pressed against the image carriers are widely used in order to remove residual toner on the image carriers. Foreign objects such as paper dust may be caught in the cleaning blade. A technique is known in which, in such a case, the cleaning blade and the image carrier are moved relative to each other in the axial direction in order to remove residual toner without scratching the surface of the image carrier due to the foreign objects caught in the cleaning blade.
For example, in some of conventional image forming apparatuses, the image carrier is rotated, and a shuttling drive mechanism is actuated by the rotational movement to shuttle the image carrier in the axial direction. In this case, in a state where the image carrier is shuttled while rotating, the cleaning blade is caused to contact with the surface of the image carrier, thereby removing residual toner without scratching the surface of the image carrier.